vocal_warchild Reviews

Union Square (2003)

excellent documentary

[8/10 · 23 April 2006]

i really enjoyed this doco, well enjoy is not the right term by any means but i cant for now find a better word to describe how i feel towards this film.

the film itself is really pretty poorly shot and the audio is really bad at times, but i was not watching this to have a cinematic experience, i was watching it to try and get an insight into the world of the people involved and on that level it really delivers. it focus's on 6 or 7 different heroin addicts, all homeless and living in union square, hence the name of the film. it trys to give an insight into what makes these people users and trys to highlight the severity of the problems that stem from being a heroin addict. clearly homelessness being the primary problem but also other problems come to light throughout the telling of their stories.

i was a little shocked by the injection scenes, i have always been uncomfortable watching people shoot up, be it on screen or in real life but i guess these scenes were being used to emphasize the complete awfulness of injecting and hope that non users who see this will be steered away from trying it due to the disgusting images portrayed in this film.

anyway i feel this could really become a great educational tool for the social welfare sector worldwide and hope that it gets picked up on by social workers worldwide for this purpose. i am a youth worker and shall be using it to highlight the obvious but often overlooked effects of heroin.

also please not that although IMDb has this listed as being rated R here in Australia it is actually rated M15+ so can be viewed by a larger target group.

Inside Deep Throat (2005)

brilliant

[9/10 · 20 April 2006]

i am an unashamed porn fan, not in the sense that i sit around all the time watching th stuff, but in the sense that i find the people involved in the making and distribution of the stuff to be very interesting, if not somewhat shady and bizarre people but none the less they have a story to share that not many people can lay claim to and so i like to give any material broaching the subject, particularly in its formative years, a listen.

so i haven't seen deep throat, and i don't really want to, if I'm going to watch people engaging in sexual acts i will buy something a little more intense and modern without all the premise of having a plot for arts sake. but this documentary is not about the film persae, it is about the people involved with it and how it affected their lives.

we see and hear from a lot of people who's lives have been both positively and negatively affected by this film over the years and it gives the viewer an insight into what really makes these people get involved in the business to begin with, and surprisingly enough its not just the money as there wasn't much money in it for the actors as such back in the 70s.

so i suggest that anybody that has an interest in rights and freedoms should really watch this as it gives a deeper appreciation of these simple gifts that we have to live by today and are so readily taken for granted.

if you like this kinda stuff also check out a film called Wadd which is about the life and death of john Holmes and also read How to make love like a porn star, the autobiography of Jenna Jameson.

Red Scorpion (1988)

excellent pile of junk!!!!!!!!!!!

[8/10 · 20 April 2006]

OK now I'm not going to try and say that this film is by any means a true classic, BUT it is a type of classic.

in so much as that it has the man Dolph, mostly half nude, and it has guns, and some really nasty ones at that. so the plot is really weak, nobody is going to buy into the fact that one guy can save a nation but thats not the point, its really just a vehicle for Dolph to do his thing, which is to look tough and sound funny in a monotone kinda way.

i really like the torture scene where the guy is sticking large needles through Dolphs anatomy, actually looks pretty realistic considering its not a big budget film, and also i like the scarification that Dolphs little tribesman friend does for him while he is drugged.

the highlight of the film for me is probably the goofy relationship that is forged between Dolphs character and the little bushman, its really fun. the language barrier is well played out but the writers and actors have enabled this element to flow very well and their means of communication is really very effective at translating the messages of the relationship for the film.

so do yourself a favor and go rent the DVD as it has at long last been released, and sit back and enjoy some cornball action for all its worth.

just don't expect any special features cause their isn't any.

Feed (2005)

frighteningly bizarre but still very watchable

[8/10 · 20 April 2006]

OK well i was not really sure what to expect from this movie. I watched it primarily because it had been worked on by the guy who did the lawnmower man and i was a really big fan of that movie.

so anyway i had a look online to see a little about it and got a vague idea what was going on. so i hired the DVD and sat down to watch. i was not overly impressed with the first half of the film, seemed more like a soft-core porn flick than an actual movie but i persisted as i kinda refuse to bail out of any movie and to date have only ever stopped watching one which for curiosities sake was a terrible film called gosford park. anyway as the action moved to the states it really began to pick up.

i guess at the heart of the film was the desire to shock and in that regard the team have seceded. the topic at hand is not a light subject but the attention to detail given to so many elements of this film really serve to highlight the severity of the problem. for instance sakes the suit is just so well crafted, absolutely seamless as far as i can see, moved really well and the detail on it was impeccable yet shows how limiting to a persons life experience it can be to maintain such a large body weight.

anyway I'm kinda rambling here but i guess that when it boils down to it i really suggest that anybody who has a high threshold for the bizarre and shocking should really take a look at this film, my biggest fear however is that it might inspire people who have a hidden interest in this fetish to actually seek out partners to participate in it with which i feel is not a safe practice.

the gore towards the end of the film is a little campy in as much as that it really looks pretty crappy when compared to some other low budget films with a similar quirk but none the less this does not necessarily detract from the film on the whole.

so watch if you are so inclined but i implore everybody that does watch it to not try and pursue their own experience of this fetish as it is far to dangerous, and also far to unfair to the mental and physical health and wellbeing of all involved.

Beyond the Mat (1999)

awesome documentary showing the true nature of the wrestling game

[9/10 · 8 March 2006]

man i loved this film, a real insight into what happens behind the scenes of the world famous wrestling franchise. well all my favourites were here but mostly of not mick foley, i love this guy and to see him in such a candid light was great, also jake the snake roberts, it was difficult to see what a bad state of affairs this once amazing personality has gotten himself into. but on the whole its just a very honest portrayal of what these guys have to go through day by day just to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads and those of their families. i also strongly suggest that anyone who likes this movie also read the two mick foley books and also try and find jerry the king lawlers nbook as well as they give a really deep insight into the world of sports entetrtainment. the only thing i didn't like about this film is that it didn't have any info or input by dusty rhodes who is by far my all time favourite wrestler, oh well they did a great job even without the American dream.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

what a boring, naff movie

[1/10 · 8 March 2006]

i actually got put to sleep by this film and i wasn't even tired. oh well, the effects are OK but are really let down by the soft focus lens effect they have plastered over this entire film. I'm not a fan of this old look, i know thats what they were trying for and i was open to the idea of this movie but it just really didn't deliver. law was very bland and paltrow was equally ordinary. Jolie was OK but I'm biased as I'm a fan but she was not enough to redeem this pile of junk. highly recommend nobody watch this film. OK i now have to write more about how bad this film is to make it meet the length requirements for IMDb database. well the robots are a poor rip off from the classic kids film the iron giant and they look good at times but why do they have to shoot rays out of their eyes, so clichéd. the air scenes are probably the highlight of the film, the scenery looks nice, the cloud work in particular is actually phenomenal but again this just does not save the film from being a disaster. i only paid $5au for it so no big loss but wish i had have bought myself 1.5 coffees instead.

Flesh Gordon (1974)

this is absolutely awful.......

[16 February 2006]

i remember seeing this at my fathers shop when i was about 6 and always wanted to see it, of course he would not let me watch it knowing full well what it really was but me as a little kid thought it was all about flash Gordon, ha, i wish, anyway after years and years of not seeing it i finally decided to rent it out and oh my lord, what a disaster, not only is it not good its not sexy either, it has a stupid plot, stupid characters, Wang in particular, and the whole thing is just campy and lame, i suggest that nobody on this fair planet ever watch this heaping pile of dung, i certainly wish i hadn't, i should have just lived with the illusions that i had of it as a child. damn my inquisitive nature.

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

oh man what a film.........

[7/10 · 13 February 2006]

this is by far the most extreme film i have ever seen, well actually i think there were only really ten minutes of extreme footage in it but these were enough to send me into a catatonic state. i have seen so many violent and horrific films in my life, i remember seeing the exorcist at age 6 and not being as disturbed as i was by this film. now all the stuff actually looks pretty goofy in a lot of ways but the animal scenes, particularly the turtle scene are just obscene, they went to such extremes in its mutilation that they were only trying to accomplish one thing and that is to make people very very uncomfortable, and they really succeed in doing so. when we see the genital removal scene also it is very well made and looks like it is really being done, i am of the belief that they used cadavers to make this scene as i just cannot understand how they could make it look so real. anyway i would rate this movie higher than a 7 but at times felt it to be just a little off taste which is the aim but i just didn't approve in some regards. anyway check it out if you have not seen it already and if you have a liking for this sort of film you will not be disappointed, of that you can rest assured.